Russia has said it is concerned over Saudi Arabian oppression of pro-democracy protests in its Eastern Province, sparking a fierce rebuke from the authoritarian state.

Russian Human Rights envoy Konstantin Dolgov expressed “great concern” about the situation in eastern Saudi Arabia following what he described as clashes between law enforcement officers and peaceful demonstrators in which at least two people have been killed.

The Russian Foreign Ministry website quoted Dolgov as saying that people in the Eastern Province were protesting “against the existing, according to their opinion, impairment of the rights of the Shia community on the part of the authorities of the Kingdom.”

Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov met with the Saudi ambassador in Moscow on Thursday, but it is not clear if the concerns were raised.